John Predmore, S.J., is a Northeast Province Jesuit and was the pastor of Jordan's English language parish. He studies art and directs BC High's adult spiritual formation programs. Formerly a retreat director in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Ignatian Spirituality is given through guided meditations, weekend-, 8-day, and 30-day Retreats based on The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatian Spirituality serves the contemporary world as people strive to develop a friendship with God.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 23, 2012

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20;
Psalm 54; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37

In politics we elect a person who
represents our ideals and is someone just like us. We want to relate easily to
the person who will lead us. We do not elect pompous or self-righteous people.
The author of Wisdom writes that many evil people are suspicious of the ‘just’
person and sets out to test that person’s character. If person is
self-righteous, encircled adversaries are ready to pounce on his or her first
mistake and bring the person down to their level; If the person is righteous
because of openness to God and genuine love for neighbors, God will defend this
person. Therefore, the ‘just’ person has a guarantee that he or she will be tested
and will be made to suffer.

Jesus, the Just One from God,
announces he is to suffer before his death and he will rise on the third day.
His disciples do not understand what he is saying and they let the conversation
drop. Silence reigns when we are unprepared to hold another person’s suffering.
Jesus calls children to himself and as he embraces one of them says that the
true leader, the true just one, has to be ready to welcome all others in the
way he welcomes an innocent child. A true disciple places the concerns of
others before one’s own and does not act out of one’s unmet needs. Jesus says
that both hospitality and service to others are the examples of mercy that God
desires.

In the second reading, James tells
us that disorder and undesirable behaviors arise from unmet needs. Wars and
conflict, writes James, arise from one’s passions. All conflicts we have on a
personal level (even national and international) are because we act out of our
unmet needs. Too often, we react first. We say things in haste we regret. We
speak in pent-up anger because we do not immediately confront our annoyance and
ask for an altered behavior from our offender. We act passive-aggressively to
show that we are upset instead of bringing our anger directly to the person who
caused it.

It is good when we allow ourselves
time for sufficient reflection before we respond. We want to respond rather
than react. This is what healthy, happy adults are able to do. You have to flag
the behavior of the person who offends you and put them on notice that in the
very near future you want to talk about the ways their behavior made you feel.
It sets us a conversation where understanding, enrichment, and reconciliation
are possible. It communicates your unmet needs to them and it gives the other
person helpful information about what you need and lack. You give a person the
chance to respond in a loving way. A generous person will give you what you
need if it is possible.

A good question to ask ourselves
each day is: “What do I need today?” However, make it specific and personal. “What
do I need in my relationship with God? What do I need in my relationship with
Suzanne? What are my hopes for a relationship with Clarence?” We help ourselves
when we examine our whole relationship and learn how to maneuver through those
particular boundary violations without getting stuck there. We need to bring
what we need and want to the table of discussion, while realizing that the
other person needs freedom to bring what he or she needs and wants to the table
as well. A secondary question then is, “What does Suzanne/Clarence need and
want?” After some reflection on this, it is good to simply ask them because
undoubtedly their answer will be different from the one you imagine for them.
Freedom has to be operative in a healthy friendship.

James writes, “The wisdom from above
is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good
fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is
sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.” This is the innocent goodness Jesus
models for us and asks us to follow. It leads to a righteousness that comes
from God – and that is all that matters for we will have peace within our
hearts and with our neighbors. We will know it because all manner of things
will be in harmony, but bringing about peace and residing in peace is
difficult, continuous work. It is worth it, but it means always striving to be
in right relations with your neighbor and yourself. Tell Christ what you need
today. Ask him to help you get it.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First
Reading: The author of Proverbs instructs a young person to
respect fully the needs on one’s neighbor and stay on the path of
righteousness. Envy not the one who chooses a path that seems to be of
advantage. It generally leads to foolishness and destruction. The author gives aphorisms to help a person
remember a particular truth when in a time of choice. He cautions against
denying God through speaking falsehoods because misspoken words can lead to a
person’s dismay; he asks that God favors him with his law. ~ Ecclesiastes, the
preacher, reminds the reader that everything is as fleeting as one’s breath.
The only thing that endures is God’s presence; all other things pass away. There
is a time for everything in life, even the cyclical nature of opposites. The
task of a human is to find happiness in the midst of the patterns of the
seemingly futile swings of life. ~ For the feast of the angels, Daniel’s
visions reveal the heavenly presence of angels who do their best to protect the
kingship.

Gospel:
Jesus tells his disciples to be like the
light that shines its goodness to dark places. Everything good that is hidden
will be revealed for everyone to see its fine qualities. As Jesus is speaking,
his befuddled Mother and brothers try to approach him to bring him home and to
silence him from say embarrassing statements. Jesus claims that anyone who does
the will of God is his Mother or brothers or sisters. He then summons the
Twelve together to give them authority over demons and the power to cure
diseases. They are sent to proclaim the Kingdom of God with instructions designed
to protect them and provide credibility to their ministry. Herod the tetrarch hears
about Jesus and asks about him. His advisers think he is John the Baptist reincarnated,
or Elijah, or one of the prophets. After this, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who
do you say that I am?” When Peter replies ‘the Christ,’ Jesus once again
predicts his passion. ~ On the feast of the angels, Nathanael is the one who
identifies Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel. The angels rejoice.

Saints of the Week

September 23: Pio of Pietrelcina, priest (1887-1968)
was affectionately named Padre Pio and was a Capuchin priest who received the
stigmata (wounds of Christ) just as Francis of Assisi did. He founded a
hospital and became the spiritual advisor to many at a monastery at San
Giovanni Rotondo.

September 26: Cosmas and Damian, martyrs
(d. 287), were
twins who became doctors. They were noted because they never charged anyone a medical
fee. They died in the Diocletian persecution. Great miracles have been
attributed to them and the Emperor Justinian is claimed to be healed through
their intercession.

September 27: Vincent de Paul, priest
(1581-1660), was
a French peasant who selected to be chaplain at the Queen's household after his
ordination. He provided food and clothing to the poor, including prostitutes,
the sick, disabled, and homeless. He founded the Congregation of Missions
(Vincentians) to preach and train clergy and he co-founded the Daughters of
Charity with Louise de Marillac.

September 28: Wenceslaus, martyr
(907-929), was
raised a Christian by his grandmother while his mother and brother were opposed
to Christianity. His brother opposed him when he became ruler of Bohemia in
922. He introduced strict reforms that caused great dissatisfaction among
nobles and political adversaries. His brother invited him to a religious
ceremony where he was killed in a surprise attack.

September 28: Lawrence Ruiz and 15 companion martyrs (seventeenth century), were killed in
Nagasaki, Japan during 1633 and 1637. Most of these Christians were friends of
the Dominicans. Lawrence, a Filipino, was a husband and father. He and these
other missionaries served the Philippines, Formosa, and Japan.

September 29: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
are long a part of Christian and Jewish scripture. Michael is the angel who
fights against evil as the head of all the angels; Gabriel announces the
messiah's arrival and the births of Jesus and John the Baptist; and Raphael is
a guardian angel who protects Tobias on his journey. Together, they are
venerated to represent all the angels during a three-day period.

This Week in
Jesuit History

·Sep 23, 1869. Woodstock College of the
Sacred Heart opened. With 17 priests, 44 scholastics, and 16 brothers it was
the largest Jesuit community in the United States at the time.

·Sep 24, 1566. The first Jesuits entered
the continental United States at Florida. Pedro Martinez and others, while
attempting to land, were driven back by the natives, and forced to make for the
island of Tatacuran. He was killed there three weeks later.

·Sep 25, 1617. The death of Francisco
Suarez. He wrote 24 volumes on philosophy and theology. As a novice he was
found to be very dull, but one of his directors suggested that he ask our
Lady's help. He subsequently became a person of prodigious talent.

·Sep 26, 1605. At Rome, Pope Paul V
orally declared St Aloysius to be one of the "Blessed." The official
brief appeared on October 19.

·Sep 27, 1540. Pope Paul III signed the
Bull, Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae,
which established the Society of Jesus.

·Sep 28, 1572. Fifteen Jesuits arrived
in Mexico to establish the Mexican Province. They soon opened a college.

·Sep 29, 1558. In the Gesu, Rome, and
elsewhere, the Jesuits began to keep Choir, in obedience to an order from Paul
IV. This practice lasted less than a year, until the pope's death in August,
1559.